AstraZeneca lost the ulcer medicine Prilosec, the world's top drug before Lipitor earned the title, by replacing it with a similar medicine, Nexium, and launching a bunch of other drugs that, while not breakthroughs, had clear advantages over rivals.
He has previously been treated for an ulcer on the back of his leg and has almost lost a toe.
In the early 20th century, there had been interest in an ulcer link to the spiral-shaped bacterium until a large 1954 U.S. study failed to find it in stomach biopsies, delaying the discovery for 28 years.
AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ) is trying it with Nexium, the follow-up to ulcer drug Prilosec, once the best-selling drug in the world.
Accusations include increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and heart attacks and slowdowns in the ulcer-healing process.
They found that doctors in one managed care organization were just as likely to prescribe ulcer drugs with the Cox-2 inhibitors as they were cheaper drugs.
For two or three years she was treated for an ulcer, until the doctors finally realized that there was nothing wrong, at least not in her stomach.
AstraZeneca goes to a U.S. court today to defend its crown jewel, Prilosec, against a bevy of generic drugmakers who want to make cheap copies of the ulcer treatment.
Claire Bombardier, the University of Toronto researcher who had conducted Merck's big ulcer study, criticized the new studies for not being placebo-controlled.
But just two years later cardiologists warned of a potential problem: Merck's own 8, 000-person study, the same one that showed Vioxx reduced ulcer complications, also found that patients on the drug had more than double the risk of heart problems of those on another painkiller, naproxen (the ingredient in over-the-counter Aleve).
Some of that is healthy, but if the credit dries up too much, too fast, the gut check becomes a bleeding ulcer.
The health board said it wanted to give assurances that there have been "major changes" since Mr O was an inpatient at the hospital, particularly around pressure ulcer prevention.
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Most drugs on the market today target such receptors: SmithKline Beecham's ulcer medicine Tagamet, and American Home Product's hypertension drug Inderal.
Taking other medications, such as antacid therapies for ulcer disease or gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), may interfere with the absorption of these drugs.
Whether any of the institute's discoveries will lead directly to better anti-ulcer drugs remains to be seen.
The standards covered basics, from hand hygiene to measures for stomach-ulcer prevention.
It begins as a raised itchy bump that resembles an insect bite, but soon turns into a painless ulcer, usually one to three centimeters in diameter usually with a black center in the middle.
What the doctor took to be a cancerous growth turned out to be a simple ulcer.
The ex-Smiths frontman has suffered a number of illnesses including a bleeding ulcer, Barrett's oesophagus and double pneumonia.
Morrissey, who led revered Manchester indie band The Smiths in the 1980s, was treated in a Michigan hospital in January for a bleeding ulcer.
That makes them the third best-selling class of drugs, after cholesterol-lowering agents and ulcer meds.
Astra's shares have recently been undermined by fears that the pharmaceutical firm will have nothing to succeed Losec, its best-selling anti-ulcer drug, whose patents will start to run out in 2001.
The 53-year-old star recently postponed a string of concerts due to a bleeding ulcer.
With Vioxx off the market, arthritis patients have one less choice in how to avoid dying of a bleeding ulcer.
The treatment is usually only denied to patients who have other medical conditions such as a bleeding ulcer, or a stroke.
Johns, who was born in England but moved to the US in the 1970s, died in Los Angeles on Sunday following a brief hospital stay to treat a stomach ulcer.
The group is also looking into medical applications: the laser might, for example, help to detect in a patient's breath molecules characteristic of ulcer formation.
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